Under construction

That's right, we're under construction now!

When I last wrote a blog update, I was waiting for electrical plan check at the City to complete their review.  Our electrical situation has been a thorn in my side so far, and I imagine it'll be that way for many years to come.  But, through some careful engineering and refinements, we put together a functional craft brewery that fits within our electrical limitations.

In the last couple months, I've had many accomplishments:

• Plan approval by the City Building Department
• Completed application and received approval of our ABC Small Beer Manufacturer's License
• Purchased a glycol chiller, heat exchanger, brewery hoses, and 120 half-barrel kegs
• Pulled building, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing permits for construction of tenant improvements
• Started construction

Plan approval was a big step. I had worked for almost two years with the planning and building agency at the City, my engineers and architects, to fit a brewery into our amazing building.  It is an amazing building, but it comes with some less-than-amazing limitations, like our electrical capacity.  Nevertheless, we found a way to make our brewery fit into our limitations, without substantial sacrifice.  So much of planning and design is about getting everyone to understand all of the different elements that go into a brewery.  

An early look at our tasting room tables

In February, I submitted applications to the ABC and TTB, the state and federal agencies that regulate and tax beer production.  I heard back from the ABC near the end of April, and we were approved as a Small Beer Manufacturer.  Under this license, we can operate a brewery and distribute to local bars and restaurants.  We are also able to operate a tasting room in which we can sell beer by the glass or growler direct to the consumer.  We have a great space and I can't wait to share it with you.  I'm still waiting on the TTB to approve our license.

The crazy Butfering machine that levels our tabletops

The glycol chiller, heat exchanger, brewery hoses, and kegs were some of the key major elements that I had not already purchased.  There are still lots of little nick-nacks that we need to run a brewery, like clamps, gaskets and tools.  The last element I'd like to add to my brewery is a variety of wine or spirit barrels, and I'm actively soliciting California wineries and barrel brokers to track down a variety of barrels.  If you walk by our building, you'll see the pile of kegs in the window.

With plan approval, we pulled building permits for all of our tenant improvements.  Immediately after pulling permits, we started construction.  I now have a big hole in the ground with new sewer lines tying into the existing sewer.  I am regularly posting photo updates on our construction to our instagram.com/thegoodbeerco and I would encourage you to follow along.

Picking up kegs in Industry, CA

Zoning Administrator Approval

Yesterday morning, myself and a couple fellow craft beer enthusiasts attended the public hearing in front of the Santa Ana Zoning Administrator.  It was an administrative review and open to the public.  After some trouble understanding the technical functions of a brewery tap room, the Zoning Administrator approved the proposal with some changes and sent it to the Planning Commission as a public hearing item.  Thanks to Jason and Joshua for showing up in support!  Here are the details on the hearing:

The Good Beer Company will be discussed at a public hearing in front of the Santa Ana Planning Commission.  The Commission is set to meet on March 25 at 5:30 PM in the Santa Ana Council Chambers, 22 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, California.  The Planning Commission can approve, continue or deny the Conditional Use Permit application.  

I'm putting together a slideshow to give the Planning Commission members an idea of what the tap room will look like.  I'll be collecting photographs and short videos of tap rooms across Orange County.  Here is one of the preliminary renderings of the Good Beer tap room:

If you have good photos of local brewery tasting rooms, please submit them to brandon@thegoodbeerco.com 

"The Art of Beer" Trailer

Last Fall, I met Joshua Lang at a little get together at the Food Beast headquarters in Downtown Santa Ana.  Robyn, Jen and I showed up with a couple kegs of beer and were immediately pouring pints.  Joshua was shooting a video of the impressive musical performance at the party.  Robyn started talking to him and it turned out that he was in the process of shooting a documentary about craft beer with director Oscar Ussery!

Anyways, we exchanged contact cards and got in touch shortly thereafter to shoot some footage of a homebrew day and an interview about the Good Beer Company.  Here's the trailer and here's the full 15 minute film shown at the premier:

Check out their Facebook page for more information: The Art of Beer

The Art of Beer is "a documentary about the cultural impact of craft beer in Southern California. Dir. by Oscar Ussery and Produced by Joshua Lang"

Julian Brewing Company Brew Day

My brother Bryce was offered the assistant brewer position a few months ago and has brewed several batches on the Julian Brewing Company's 3 barrel brewing system in Julian, California.  Bryce calls me all the time to talk about what he's doing and I've stopped in several times to sample the house ales - and they never disappoint.  Bryce brews under the tutelage of Mike Gabbard of Pizza Port.

Bryce and I collaborated on the recipe over the last couple weeks of November and Bryce, Mike and I spent the day brewing a batch of Double IPA on December 1st.  Pale malt with a pinch of munich, caramalt, and white sugar made up the fermentables in this big beer that should have a light malt background with crisp dryness.  Warrior hops were used for bittering and Citra and Chinook hops were used in ample quantities for flavor and aroma addition.  I snapped a photo after our final hop addition - check out the green hop slime that coated the top of the boil kettle!

Photo: Bryce gets sacks of grain ready for the mill while I weigh out the munich and caramalt.

Photo: Bryce crushes the grain with the malt mill

 Photo: I'm mashing in (we used masks to avoid inhaling grain dust).

   

Photo: Bryce checks the temperature of the mash. We nailed it.

Photo: That's me monitoring the sparge.

Photo: Sparge arm distributes hot water on top of the grain bed.

 

Photo: I let Bryce do the hard work, like shoveling grain from the mash tun

Photo: Late in the boil, after adding four pounds of hops, the kettle looked like we were brewing green slime...

Photo: Julian Brewing Company's 3 barrel brewery

More great friends!

The beer world is quite different from other industries.  I'd characterize the craft beer industry as more of a community than an industry.  A community full of incredibly nice people.

In early May, I attended the Brew Expo and annual Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego.  Most of my time was spent browsing potential equipment and raw good provider booths and learning about the intricacies of hop contracts and ordering yeast, but I also met a bunch of amazing brewers and business owners.

In particular, I met Owen Williams of Ritual Brewing Company.  Owen was super nice and offered his extensive knowledge base to me if I should have questions along the path to opening The Good Beer Company.  His brewhouse was on display at CBC as well, which was pretty cool to see.

I also met Rick Smets, the brains behind the start up Stereo Brewing.  It's great to meet people that are passionate about beer and are planning breweries close to Santa Ana.  Rick is planning to open Stereo in our neighboring City of Costa Mesa.  I can't wait to see the craft beer community in Orange County grow into something that rivals what LA and San Diego County have.

I also had a chance to talk with Steve Hindy of the Brooklyn Brewery.  I had read his compelling story about his transition from overseas war correspondent to homebrewer to successful brewery owner, and it was very cool to meet and talk with such a successful brewer.  And his keynote speech at the CBC was right on target - brewers represent more than just a local business, they are an integral part of a community.  (As a side note, I met his daughter at a friend's wedding the following weekend - what a small world!)

More recently, I attended the California Craft Brewers Association meeting at Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles.  They are working hard to become LA's brewery, which is probably the reason why I don't see Golden Road brews too often down here in Orange County.  They're also canning their beer in tall boys, which is pretty interesting.  The brewery tour was fun and interesting, and we spent a lot of time in their tasting room/restaurant and on the porch enjoying the beautiful weather.

The CCBA organized presentations by Candace Moon and Melani Gordon.  Candace is a Craft Beer Attorney and her knowledge of the ABC was obvious.  She offered to act as a liaison between the CCBA's brewery members and the ABC in the event that a brewery needs an interpretation of the law.  Melani is the co-founder of TapHunter, a beer-oriented social media app that tracks beer menus at local restaurants.  Melani offered some great social media marketing recommendations (that I can hopefully employ here at blogger, and via facebook and twitter).

At the CCBA meeting, I was introduced to Jeff Hansson from Coronado Brewing Company.  Jeff has spent some time in Downtown Santa Ana, so he's familiar with how amazing this community is.  We are going to have to get together for a pint sometime soon.

I also recently introduced myself to Jason Quinn and Jarred Dooley at the Playground, a local craft beer-centric restaurant with fantastic beers and eats.   They're super cool, very close by, and extremely knowledgeable about food and beer.  I look forward to being their neighbors here in Downtown Santa Ana. (I also love their food and Robyn and I have made Friday nights at the Playground a regular occurrence.  There's always several fantastic vegetarian dishes, which works great for Robyn and I.)

I learned a lot at the Brew Expo and CCBA meeting and look forward to working with all my great new friends.

Also, the first weekend in June I attended the Firestone Invitational Festival up in Paso Robles with Robyn, her sister Ann, Kevin, Alex, Shawn, Eric and Lea, Chief, and The Cuss from Santa Cruz (all Good Beer drinkers).  That was a lot of fun.

We definitely hit up Patrick Rue from the Bruery for some Black Tuesday and fancy sour beers.  Patrick's beers were at the top of the list with other great breweries right behind him, including Founders, 3 Floyds, Sun King, Alpine, Russian River, Golden Road, Boulevard, Revolution Brewing, to name a few.   I ended up meeting some really cool people in the craft beer community, including Brad Grider at Beer Geek Radio, Bryant Goulding from Golden Road, and Shawn McIlhenney, the head brewer at Alpine Beer Company (Pure Hoppiness... drool...) whom I admire greatly for their commitment to maintaining an extraordinary level of quality.

When's the next beer festival?!

Brewers are awesome

In an effort to learn as much as I can about brewing on a commercial scale, I have reached out to several local breweries.  The first three brewers I've reached out to have been amazing!

David Larsen at Haven Gastropub and Brewery in Pasadena gave me a brewery tour back in December.  He showed off every element of the brewery - from grain storage to the bright tanks.  Dave's brewery has a very interesting network of passageways and a special lift between the grain delivery and the mill.  In short, it looked like a real pain to get the grain in storage.  But they're figuring out how to overcome this challenge.  I'll have a chance to brew with Dave on his 15 barrel system pretty soon.

Dave introduced me to Evan Weinberg at Cismontane in Rancho Santa Margarita.  Evan gave us an intro to barrel aging as he cleaned and filled a 15 gallon oak barrel with a Belgian ale.  Cismontane placed in the Del Mar Fair in 2011 in the IPA and Pale Ale categories - no small feat amongst a County of breweries known worldwide for their IPAs and Pale Ales.  I had a chance to poke around the brewery, try Cismontane's ales, and bounce a load of questions off both Evan and Dave.  On top of that, I'll be joining Evan from time to time to gain experience on the brewery floor.  This weekend is Cismontane's second anniversary, so show up and have a pint!

I ran in to Patrick Rue from the Bruery at Haven Gastropub in Orange in March and couldn't help but bug him about beer and share my story with him.  From there, I contacted his Director of Brewing Operations, Tyler King, for a brewery tour.  Tyler was a great help - he showed me around the Bruery and gave me an overwhelming amount of advice about brewery equipment.  He's a really smart guy and his beer is testament to that. 

 More exciting photos from the breweries (first two from Cismontane, third is from the Bruery, and the fourth is from Haven Pasadena):